Intel boosts county, state economies

The giant crane building Intel’s newest fab in Hillsboro may be taking off for a new project in Scandinavia soon, but the chip-making company released figures last week that show it continues to be a huge lift for the local economy.

The huge Lampson LTL Transi-Lift 2600 that has dominated the east Hillsboro skyline the last two months will soon be disassembled for shipment to its next assignment in Denmark. The crane was used to lift giant roof trusses into place for Intel Oregon's new D1X fab.

“The analysis attests to the fact that we continue to have a multi-billion dollar impact on Washington County’s and Oregon’s economies,” said Intel spokesman Bill MacKenzie.

Prepared by ECONorthwest, the report measures Intel’s operations between 2005 and 2009, with a focus on the economic impacts in 2009.

For that year, the total economic impacts attributed to Intel’s operations, capital spending, contributions and taxes amounted to almost $14.6 billion in activity, including $4.3 billion in personal income and 59,990 jobs.

In addition, the report found that every 10 Intel jobs create another 31 jobs in the community.

Although the report showed a small decline of 1.1 percent of employment at Intel from 2007 to 2009, that was much less than the 8.8 percent experienced by other private employers in Oregon. In 2009, the average gross income for Intel employees was $117,000, more than twice the average of other Washington County employees. Average incomes increased 17.8 percent at Intel from 2005 to 2009, compared to 10.4 percent for other private employers.

In addition to payroll, Intel also purchases a wide variety of goods and services necessary to operate. In 2009, non-labor operating expenses were an estimated $5.4 billion, with much of these going for utilities, wholesale and retail trade, business, professional, management, employment services and manufacturing.

The report found that supply relationships that start with these purchases supports industries that also pay higher-than-average salaries. The average income for employees indirectly affected by Intel’s non-payroll spending is $77,200 in Washington County, $68,560 in the Portland Metro area and $66,900 in Oregon.

Intel’s own contributions, plus those attributed to supply-chain and consumption-driven effects, accounted for approximately 20.1 percent of total employment and 20.8 percent of total personal income in Washington County.

The report did not take into account the construction of the new D1X fab in Hillsboro, which is obviously having a huge positive impact on Oregon’s economy, MacKenzie said.

In conjunction with the 22-nanometer upgrades in Oregon and Arizona, the D1X project will employ approximately 6,000 to 8,000 construction or contractors, supplementing the approximately 16,100 employees currently at Intel in Oregon and the current $1.8 billion annual payroll at the site.

“The analysis is based on 2009 data because that is the most recent year for which we had complete data,” MacKenzie said. “But the conclusions still obviously have current relevance and show that in these difficult economic times, Intel is a major pillar of the state’s economy.”

In the meantime, the crane that has become such a fixture on the Hillsboro landscape, the Lampson LTL-2600 Transi-Lift Mobile Heavy Lift Crane will be here about two more weeks, then disassembled for the trip for a new project in Denmark.

The LTL-2600 is the world’s “largest land-based mobile crawler crane,” says spokeswoman Kate Lampson. “What sets us apart from our competition is we are fully-mobile, which allows us to work in smaller areas and leave a smaller footprint.”

The Transi-Lift system is Lampson’s patented configuration that combines the heavy lifting capacity of stiff leg derricks and ring-mounted cranes with the mobility of a conventional crawler crane.